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Roy Harper
Roy Harper is a fictional character created by DC Comics. Debuting in 1941, Roy was Speedy, the sidekick of Green Arrow, who grew to be a hero in hisown right before becoming Arsenal and later Red Arrow. History Origin Roy William Harper, Jr. was born in Arizona to a forest ranger, Roy Harper, Sr. and an unknown mother. When he was less than three years old, a huge forest fire happened, and Roy's father rushed to save as many people as he could, but he never made it out himself. One of the people he saved, a Navajo chief named Brave Bow, found Roy outside the forest and recognized him as the son of the man who saved him. With seemingly no knowledge of any family, Roy was left alone, so Brave Bow took him to his tribe to raise him as his own. Growing up in the tribe, Roy started learning archery from a young age, mastering the bow and becoming a sharpshooter early, and routinely competing in competitions and winning. Because of his Anglo/Navajo identity, Roy didn't quite fit in school. Wanting to find solace in something, Roy took up in a hero, Green Arrow, and started idolizing him, reading about him and writing stories about him. When it was time for the annual archery contest at the tribe, Green Arrow was mysteriously invited as a judge. Even more mysteriously, Roy missed all his targets by a wide margin. Wanting to find out what happened, Roy found out Green Arrow and Brave Bow replaced his arrows with magnetized arrows that would veer off course. When he questioned them, Roy found out that Green Arrow wasn't really there for the archery contest. Roy found out Brave Bow was sick and dying, so he knew he had to find someone to take care of Roy. Seeing how much Roy has idolized Green Arrow, Brave Bow contacted him and asked him. The archery contest wasn't really about archery, it was about a showing of Roy's character. When some burglars tried to rob the souvenir shop at the tribe, Green Arrow was too slow to stop them, despite being right next to them, as Roy caught them before he even got the chance. Coupled with the fact that Roy draws his bow and shoots faster, this is where the Speedy name comes from. After that, Green Arrow officially agreed to take on Roy as his partner and ward. Brave Bow passed away soon after, and Roy officially joined Green Arrow as his partner Speedy. Speedy and the Teen Titans As Speedy, Roy was having the time of his life being a crime fighter. He eventually helped find the Teen Titans with Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Wally West, and Garth, when they had to team up when their mentors were mind controlled. At first, Roy was distant with the team, wanting to emulate Oliver's relationship with the league and only join them when he was needed, but as he got closer to the team, he realized that wasn't really him and joined full time. It was here when he began a romantic relationship with Donna. Roy also started his own band, Great Frog, with fellow Titan, Mal Duncan. Drug Addiction As Roy spent more and more time with the Teen Titans, Oliver left to travel the country after he'd lost his fortune. When the Teen Titans had their first break up, Roy found himself alone. Trying to find some comfort, he got mixed up with some bad groups and started taking drugs, where he developed a heroin addiction. When Oliver returned and found out, he reacted angrily and kicked Roy out of his house. When Hal found him on the street later, Roy vowed to fight his drug addiction and kick it, to prove that he could get better. Hal took him to Dinah Lance, who helped him with his withdrawal and took care of him. After some time under Dinah's care, Roy reconciled with Oliver, but officially ended his partnership with him, going fully solo. Becoming a Father After he went solo, Roy started working with the DEA, where he worked in helping taking down drug operations and drug lords. His work with the DEA led to him joining the CBI (Central Bureau of Intelligence) where he worked as an agent and spy. While on undercover assignment with the CBI in Japan, Roy met the assassin Cheshire, and the two of them fell in love. About a year later, Roy met Cheshire again on a mission with the Titans, where he found out he fathered a daughter with her called Lian. Cheshire, however, only allowed Roy to see her once. Desperate to see Lian again on her first birthday, Roy sought the the help of Dick Grayson. The two of them found Lian and fought off Cheshire. It was here that Cheshire realized how much more dangerous her life as an assassin was, and she decided to give Roy full custody of Lian. Roy left the CBI and briefly moved to Northern Ireland, where his birth ancestors came from, as he sought a calmer place to raise Lian. Despite his attempt to avoid superheroics there, he found that he couldn't avoid them as he found himself in the middle of a mystery there. He then moved to LA, where he took up work as a Private Detective. Arsenal and leading the Titans Roy decided to take up spy work again, and he was reassigned to Checkmate, under the command of Sarge Steel. While at Checkmate, Roy expanded his skills beyond just using a bow and arrow and became a weapons expert, as well as mastering Moo Gi Gong, the martial art of using any random item as a weapon. This was when he stopped being Speedy to focus on his Agent Harper work full time. At Checkmate, Roy became friends with a fellow agent, Martin Santos, and his family, who helped him with Lian in her early years. Recently, The Titans had been under pressure from the government and the media due to the large amount of damage caused in the battle against the Wildebeests in the Titans Hunt. Being a founding member and current reserve member of the team, Roy was sent by Checkmate to talk to Dick about the situation, and convince him into having the Titans cooperate with the government. Roy had also secretly heard that if the Titans didn't cooperate, Congress would work on shutting down all superhero teams, so he tried to levy the situation as much as he could, but it was never gonna work. Roy suggested a compromise to Sarge Steel- that he would return to the Titans full time and make sure everything was going smooth himself. Since he hasn't been Speedy for some time, Roy decided to take on a new mantle. With some help and technology acquired from Steve Dayton (whose mansion the Titans have been using as an HQ), Roy built new gear and a new costume, now officially calling himself Arsenal. Some time later, the wedding of Dick and Kory was interrupted by an attack, causing the death of the minister and damage all around. This caused a major uproar from the government and media against the Titans. Because of what happened at the wedding, Sarge Steel turned on the deal he made with Roy, demanding that he take leadership of the Titans himself, or else the government will shut them down. Roy refused to do it, not wanting to turn on Dick because he knew he'd turn this around, but he kept receiving further pressure from Steel. The situation was only made worse when the attorney general announced he was planning on prosecuting the Titans and all non-sanctioned superhero teams. When he heard about that, Roy turned to Donna, Wally, Garth, and the rest of the Titans for advice on what he should do. Deciding that the situation was bad and had to be handled, they agreed to ask Dick to temporarily resign leadership until this thing blew over, especially since they agreed that he needed a break from all the pressure he'd been receiving himself recently after the wedding fiasco. Roy, along with Donna, Garth, Red Star, and Pantha, went over to talk to Dick about it. Unfortunately, it turned into something of a heated debate. Eventually, Dick realized what was going on and agreed to hand over leadership, and take a leave of absence from the team as well, realizing that was what was best for him at the time because of everything that had happened recently. That was when Roy, with his new superhero identity as Arsenal, took over as leader of the Titans, much to his dismay. As leader, Roy was faced with constant pressure from the government. Eventually, with help from Wally and Garth, Roy managed to turn the situation on the government and take away anything they had on the Titans, making it so they operated on their own terms. As leader of the Titans, Roy brought on new members to the team and established a satellite base in addition to the Earth base. Once he dealt with the government, Roy led the Titans on several cosmic missions. He planned to evolve the team beyond just traditional superheroics, wanting to expand the ways they could help. Eventually, he disbanded the team. When Checkmate drugged Roy and almost manipulated him into killing someone, Roy severed all ties with them and Sarge Steel, going back to being a regular superhero. Reviving the Titans After the death of Oliver Queen, Roy briefly moved to Metropolis when he joined the new Teen Titans team, acting as an experienced mentor to the younger new heroes. During a reunion with Dick, Wally, and Garth, Roy faced the villain Haze, who made Roy face his an image of his ideal self, which was him in a red version of the Green Arrow suit. To honor Ollie after his recent death, Roy embraced this and took on the red Green Arrow suit fully and went back to using a bow as his primary weapon. While in Metropolis, Roy and Lian were also sought out by Vandal Savage, who found out that they were descendants of his. After the incident with Savage, Roy took on a band tattoo on his left bicep, to honor to his upbringing with the Navajo. During this time, Roy also joined the original Titans in reforming the Titans team for a new generation. It was also during this time that Roy found out he had a living relative in the form of Jim Harper, the clone of his great uncle. Remaking the Outsiders After the death of Donna Troy, Dick Grayson disbanded the Titans, despite Roy's urgency against this. To deal with his grief, Roy shaved off his hair and donned a new, more advanced suit and got to work- assembling a new team of heroes, this time full of strangers instead of loved ones, in an effort to convince Dick to rethink his decision. Dick and Roy co-lead this new iteration of Outsiders that consisted of Thunder, Grace Choi, Shift, Jade, and Indigo, with the aim to try to take the lead on crime and take it down before it happens. During a mission, Roy was shot five times in the chest, leaving him out of commission for three months. When he was ready to get back, despite his skills being just as good as they were before, he found it hard settle back in because of his PTSD, finding that he was afraid of being shot again and what that might do to Lian if he were hurt in a worse way. With the help of Dick, Roy found it in himself to believe in his abilities once more, and to get back out there and face his fears. When Dick left the team and Jade died, Roy assumed full leadership for a time. While leading an effort to take down the Secret Society, Roy realized that working like this was too much for him, and that operating from the shadows wasn't for him, and that he wasn't meant to blur the line. When Lian told him that she saw him up at night, looking scared, Roy finally made the decision to leave the Outsiders. Roy handed leadership of the team officially back to Dick and took his leave, seeking to be a hero more in the light, aspiring to be more of a hero that can be an inspiration to people and to Lian. Red Arrow and joining the Justice League For the next year, Roy worked solo for the most part. During a team up with Dinah Lance and Hal Jordan to help Red Tornado, Roy found himself fighting Amazo alongside several other heroes. After this, he was invited to join the Justice League, and he officially took on the name Red Arrow, wanting to honor his family name and legacy. While on the league, Roy developed a romantic relationship with Kendra Saunders. As Red Arrow, Roy found himself to be fully settled for the first time in a while, happy that he was fully embracing his legacy. He bought a house in Star City, to give Lian more room as she grew up, and even began giving her archery lessons. Roy was also part of the Titans as they reformed once again. Cry for Justice / Rise of Arsenal During a fight with Prometheus, Roy's right arm was cut off and he was left in coma. Prometheus unleashed an earthquake on Star City that resulted in the death of Lian as well. When Roy woke, he was devastated and lashed out at all his close ones, separating himself from everyone as he grew an addiction to pain meds, before falling into a new drug, which caused him to hallucinate ghosts, which caused him to seek revenge on the Electricoutiner by killing him, who set off the earthquake on Star City. Roy burned his house down as he dealt with his grief. He joined Cheshire in Deathstroke's new rogue Titans team, in a secret plan to take out Deathstroke from the inside. However, unbeknownst to him, Slade was drugging Roy to keep him in check. When the drug wore off and Roy came back to his senses, he fought Deathstroke out and vowed to redeem himself in Lian's honor by redeeming the Titans name that Slade diminished, as well as making amends with everyone he loved. He decided to start a new Titans team that would redeem the name, and he was joining the recently resurrected Joey Wilson, Jericho. During Convergence, Roy is living in Gotham, where he started a children's home called Lian's Place. The villain Dreamslayer offered Roy a deal- that he'd bring Lian back if Roy betrayed his friends, Donna Troy and Starfire. Roy outsmarted him and managed to get Lian back without harming anyone, revealing that he'd weaponized Gotham in case something like this ever happened. With that, Lian was back to life. Current Continuity In the current continuity, Roy's story has changed quite a bit. Instead of his mother being unknown, she was a forest ranger along with his father and they both died in the forest fire. Brave Bow is known as Big Bow and Roy was raised in a Spokane tribe in Seattle instead of with the Navajo in Arizona. Big Bow raised Roy alongside a brother, Bird. When Big Bow was mysteriously killed, people believed that Roy accidentally killed him himself, and Roy couldn't deny it as his memories were fuzzy. However, years later, he would discover that Big Bow was killed by a corrupt sheriff. Roy's relationship with Oliver is different, with their issues being resolved a lot later than before. In the New 52, he was part of the Outlaws. During the Titans Hunt storyline, Roy, along with several other heroes, found out he was part of the original Teen Titans. This led to the team being reformed, with the team regaining their memories of each other's relationships. Roy's romance with Donna was also rekindled during this time. Roy died in Heroes in Crisis. Other media Young Justice In the Young Justice show, Roy was introduced as Speedy, who was eager to join the Justice League. When he found out the team of sidekicks wouldn't be part of the league, he left and took on the Red Arrow mantle, working solo. When he found from Sportsmaster that there was a mole within the team, he made it his mission to find out who the mole was. After finally joining the league himself, Roy found out the mole was himself, and that he was a clone of the original Roy Harper, who'd been kidnapped years ago, programmed to feed information to Vandal Savage. After Miss Martian cleared Roy's mind of any programming, he spent the next five years searching for the original Roy Harper. During this time, he grew close to Cheshire, and the two got married, and had a daughter, Lian. Eventually, they finally found the original Roy, who'd lost one arm. When the original Roy woke up, he was outraged, and sought to seek revenge on Luthor, who'd done this to him. However, instead of taking revenge, he made a deal with Luthor and took a robotic arm from him, and began dubbing himself Arsenal, before joining the team. Red Arrow, meanwhile, began focusing on settling down after years of searching. Moving back to Star City, he began going by Will, and started his own security company, Bowhunter Security, as he focused on raising Lian. Category:Characters Category:Heroes Category:Titans Category:Teen Titans Category:Outsiders Category:Justice League Category:Arrow family